A Nicholas Sparks Story
by imsuchanut
Summary: Because even though they deserved it, life isn't a fairytale. For people like the Doctor and Rose, it's more of a tragic Nicholas Sparks story. The Doctor is finally dying, and he goes to see Jack because he's the only one who could possible understand his pain.


Jack was exhausted. It had been a long day at work, and the team had been driving him up the walls. The "leader" position was really getting to him. By nature, he was a care-free, easy going guy. But sticking around in someplace, having to constantly be in charge and responsible for so many, it wasn't like he'd always pictured it. Jack thought about the days when he used to travel with the Doctor and Rose, when he'd seize any and every opportunity to be the hero. He smiled wryly, and though about how things have changed.

Jack walked up to his front door and was about to put the key in, when he heard it. That familiar, grinding sound, that brought back so many emotions. He knew in that moment that he was ready to leave, ready to get out of there, no matter what the Doctor had to say about it. Jack prepared for the impending argument about how he wasn't "right", when a broken man stepped out of the TARDIS.

This man was obviously the Doctor, from the way he held himself and the look of Time itself in his eyes. But he had gone and regenerated again. Well, thought Jack, at least he finally got to be ginger. Rose would love that. This man was pale and ginger, looked to be in his mid-twenties, and wore a faded sweatshirt and jeans. Despite the casual appearance, one look into the Doctor's eyes told him this meeting was going to be very somber.

The Doctor opened his mouth, and smiled sadly to himself before speaking. "I'm dying, Jack."

"Can't you regenerate?"

"This is my last. It's finally time to go."

"So, what? You came here then? To remind me that even you, the great and powerful Doctor gets to finally leave this place while I'm forced to remain here FOR ALL OF ETERNITY?" The Doctor flinched, taken aback at his words. He had come there for very different reasons.

"No, I came because you're the only one who could understand." That was all it took for the Doctor to fall to his knees, tears silently pouring out. "I'm so old. I wish I could feel the way I look, to be young and innocent, but I lost that a long time ago."

"Come on, Doc. Let's get you inside." Jack pulled the Doctor to his feet, before practically dragging him into the house. Once inside, the Doctor slowly moved to the sofa, before plopping down on him and drawing up his knees. Jack almost wanted to laugh at the sight, the Oncoming Storm was positioned like a teenage girl.

"I came to you because I need to let it all out. All the pain, the suffering. There's no one here. No one that could possibly understand what it's like besides you. It's not fair, that after all I've done for this bloody universe, all I've gone through, that I can't just be happy. Why can't I die surrounded by loved ones, or even knowing that they're safe? Why can't I feel like my life has done something good? Instead, my life feels like-" the Doctor cut off as he saw a particular book on the coffee table, and chuckled. "That yours, Jack?" The book in question was a battered paperback copy of a Nicholas Sparks novel.

"Nah, that's Gwen's. She forgot it here, I've been meaning to bring it back to her."

"Are you and her-"

"No," Jack cut him off, coldly. "Although not because I don't want to be."

"Then why aren't you? I've never seen something stop you from going after someone before?" The look Jack gave was icy enough to chill the Doctor.

"Because what I want doesn't matter. I'll outlive her by billions of years, and we have no chance of a normal life together. I can't give her that. She has someone else now. It hurts, knowing that it could never be me, but he's human. He can live out the rest of his days with her, while I'm stuck watching from the sidelines. You of all people should know how that feels, except you were lucky enough not to have it rubbed in every day."

"LUCKY? You're calling ME lucky? I thought I was lucky centuries ago, when I had her up on a Sycorax ship. But you know what? I've got it worse than you! Because she made the pain go away, one, just one look from her could ease my suffering. And now I don't even have that!" Silence filled the room.

"You know something, Jack? My life is one of those," he said, pointing at the novel.

"What are you on about?"

"My life. It's exactly one of those books. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them was based off of me."

"Sure, Doc. Whatever you say."

"No, really Jack! I'm dying here, the least you could do is be polite and agree with me." Jack chuckled, but the mention of the impending death still dampened the atmosphere.

"You never said what you were dying of."

"Old age, I am thirty five hundred years old."

"Oh, of course. Why didn't I guess that?" Jack asked sarcastically. "So how is your life one of those books?"

"Because the first few centuries I was looking for something I didn't even know existed. I travelled the universe throughout all of time, and I thought it was wanderlust. Really though, I was just looking for something to complete me, even though I didn't know it at the time. But the first few centuries, nothing happened. Well, I say nothing, but there was actually a lot, you know, adventures, saving the universe, people dying, but I was ok. Mostly.

Then the war came, and I was broken. Just like one of those main characters, I was battered, full of angst, lonely, and I didn't really trust anyone. And then she came along. She turned me around, made me a better man. She's the reason I decided to live again, and I fell for her deeper than anyone could ever in all of the multiverse.

But exactly like one of those books, our story was a tragedy. I lost her, and I broke again. But then I found her, and all was right in the world, despite the fact that we were trying to save it. It was impossible that she could come back, and I knew it had to be too good to be true.

Because he was made. Him, the bane of my existence, even though he's me but better. He's everything that I could never be, that I wish I was. And so I had to let her go. I spent the rest of my life trying to run from the pain, never getting too close to anyone, and never showing anyone my pain. The only reason I kept on living was because of her. Even though I knew she was gone, forever, there was a small part of my mind that kept hoping she would somehow make her way back to me. Always impossible, she was. And if she ever came back, I wanted her to be proud of me.

There's one big difference between my life and those books though. We never fully got some big, declaration of our love. Well, she did, but our time ran out the first time before I could say it. The second time, I couldn't say it not because I didn't feel it, because the truth was I felt it much stronger than before, but I needed to make sure she would stay. With the other me. I couldn't break her heart any further. So I left, ran away, and I've been running ever since." The Doctor turned to Jack, and saw that he was crying. As something fell on his lip, he realized that he was too.

"I'm so sorry, Doc. I'm so, so, sorry." At that, the Doctor gasped, clutching his left heart.

"It's starting." Jack leaned over and held his hand.

"But the good thing about dying for people like us, is that we'll go to heaven. And I can promise you, that angels like Rose Tyler will be there." The Doctor laid down, and looked at the ceiling.

"Rose Tyler," he whispered, as his hearts finally stopped. Jack cried over his chest, for his pain, all that could have been and never was. Because not everything is a fairytale, sometimes life's like one of those tragic Nicholas Sparks stories.


End file.
